Bitch Media - Sesame Streethttp://bitchmagazine.org/taxonomy/term/5802/0
enOn Our Radar: TDOR, The Walking Dead, and Condoms in Pornhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/draft-on-our-radar-tdor-the-walking-dead-and-condoms-in-porn
<p>There have been plenty of ups and downs around the world (wide web) this week. &nbsp;Here's just a taste of the things we've been keeping up on:</p>
<ul>
<li>Here's Sarah Thomasin's&nbsp;<a title="reaction to the tragic and ultimately unneccesary death of Savita Halappanavar" href="http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2012/11/the_killing_of_" target="_blank">reaction to the tragic and ultimately unneccesary death of Savita Halappanavar</a>. [The F Word]</li>
<li>Transgender Europe (TGEU) provides a chilling account of&nbsp;<a title="the history of transgender homicides in a press release" href="http://www.tgeu.org/265_Trans_People_killed_in_last_12_Months" target="_blank">the history of transgender homicides in a press release</a>&nbsp;preceding the 14th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) this November 20. [TGEU]</li>
<li>Despite its strong following, Lorraine Berry&nbsp;<a title="argues that &quot;The Walking Dead&quot; has become a white patriarchy" href="http://www.salon.com/2012/11/11/the_walking_dead_has_become_a_white_patriarchy/" target="_blank">argues that "The Walking Dead" has become a white patriarchy</a>. Shucks! Just when you thought that things would be different in this post-apocalyptic series... [Salon]</li>
<li>Ugh. PETA is at it again. Amanda Palmer&nbsp;<a title="responds to yet another tastless ad featuring model Joanna Krupa" href="http://amandapalmer.tumblr.com/post/35652469447/dear-peta-this-ad-is-really-upsetting" target="_blank">responds to yet another tasteless ad featuring model Joanna Krupa</a>. When will they learn? [Amanda Palmer]</li>
<li>Speaking of repeat offenders,&nbsp;<a title="Victoria's secret has issued an official apology for the headdress used during the label's fashion show" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/victorias-secret-apologizes-for-native-american-headdress-used-in-annual-fashion-show/2012/11/12/1981ea8e-2d26-11e2-b631-2aad9d9c73ac_story.html" target="_blank">Victoria's secret has finally issued an official apology for the headdress used during the label's fashion show</a>&nbsp;last week. [The Washington Post]</li>
<li>Welcome to another episode of BOOM! ROASTED! &nbsp;<a title="Nancy Pelosi responds to sexist and ageist questions about her role as the House minority leader" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyqrwYvdbeY&amp;feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">Nancy Pelosi responds to sexist and ageist questions about her role as the House minority leader</a>. Damn you Luke Russet! [Youtube]</li>
<li>In case you haven't heard, Measure B is a now-adopted law in LA county requiring the use of condoms during the filming of pornos. &nbsp;Here's a&nbsp;<a title="Q&amp;A with porn star, Jessica Drake, of condom-using fame" href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/11/15/measure_b_passed_porn_star_jessica_drake_on_the_new_condoms_in_porn_law.html" target="_blank">Q&amp;A with Measure B opponent and condom-using porn star, Jessica Drake</a>. [Slate]</li>
<li>Olivia Washington, daughter of the ultra-dreamy and Oscar-winning actor, Denzel Washington, is giving acting a go. &nbsp;In this excellent piece, Renee Martin&nbsp;<a title="examines the struggles dark-skinned women of color, like Olivia, face in Hollywood" href="http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2012/11/denzel-washington-and-the-difficulties-of-being-a-dark-skinned-woman-in-hollywood/comment-page-1/#comments" target="_blank">examines the struggles dark-skinned women of color, like Olivia, face in Hollywood</a>. [Clutch]</li>
<li>Interested in <a title="gender-neutral loos? Read this article on how to go about it" href="http://feministing.com/2012/11/14/gender-neutral-restrooms-are-every-bodys-business/" target="_blank">gender-neutral loos? Read this article on how to go about it</a>. [Feministing]</li>
<li>Supreme Court Justice <a title="Sonia Sotomayor gets real and breaks it to Abby (and viewers) of Seasame Street that being a princess just ain't a day job" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHICz5MYxNQ&amp;feature=player_embedded">Sonia Sotomayor <em>gets real</em>&nbsp;and breaks it to Abby (and viewers) of Seasame Street that being a princess just ain't a day job</a>. [Youtube]</li>
</ul>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EHICz5MYxNQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<ul>
</ul>
<p>What's been on your radar? &nbsp;Tell us so we can catch up!</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/draft-on-our-radar-tdor-the-walking-dead-and-condoms-in-porn#commentsOn Our RadarPETASesame StreetTransgender Day of RemembranceVictoria's SecretBitch HQFri, 16 Nov 2012 22:49:13 +0000Emilly Prado19974 at http://bitchmagazine.orgOn Our Radar http://bitchmagazine.org/post/on-our-radar-draft-3
<p>So many links, so much free time this weekend.</p>
<ul>
<li>Australian badass and WWII heroine Nancy Wake passed away on Sunday. The Pursuit of Harpyness shares her <a href="http://www.harpyness.com/2011/08/10/harpy-hall-of-fame-and-all-around-bamf-nancy-wake/">amazing life story.</a> Seriously, how cool was this lady?&nbsp;</li>
<li>Talk About Equality discusses the firestorm around a <a href="http://talkaboutequality.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/bert-ernie-petitions-bring-out-the-haters/">new petition to marry Bert and Ernie</a> on <em>Sesame Street</em>. Still no word on how the two themselves feel about it.</li>
<li>Bitch contributor <a href="/profile-node/se-smith">s.e. smith</a> explores the particulars of the <a href="http://tigerbeatdown.com/2011/08/10/what-do-you-mean-when-you-say-you-want-strong-female-characters/">"Strong, Female Character."</a> What do you think that entails?</li>
<li>Gender Across Borders presents <a href="http://www.genderacrossborders.com/2011/08/10/from-food-production-to-reproductive-health-a-gendered-look-at-water-policy/">"A Gendered Look at Water Policy."</a> Definitely a great, eye-opening read.</li>
<li>At Model Minority Renina discusses the film <em>Pariah</em> and <a href="http://newmodelminority.tumblr.com/post/8758587101/the-politics-of-making-a-black-film-in-obamas">what it means to make a "Black film"</a> in the Obama era.</li>
<li>The F-Word wants your inspiring feminist or organization <a href="http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2011/08/do_you_know_an_">nominees for the Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize</a>; Gender Across Borders is looking for <a href="http://www.genderacrossborders.com/2011/08/08/call-for-writers-tsk-tsk-stigma-shame-and-sexuality/">writers for a new series on stigma, shame, and sexuality</a>; and Bitch Flicks is looking for <a href="http://www.btchflcks.com/2011/08/mad-men-week-at-bitch-flicks-call-for.html">critical pieces on <em>Mad Men</em>.</a> Get out there and write, everyone!</li>
<li>Indian Country Today reports a growing number of <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/08/two-more-groups-drop-out-of-b-c-missing-women-commission-over-funding-lack/">aboriginal groups are dropping out of the BC Missing Women Commission.&nbsp;</a></li>
<li>nist.tv shares <a href="http://nist.tv/video/24176/ted-eve-ensler-suddenly-my-bod">Eve Ensler's TED talk </a>on the developing connection between her self and her body. Check it out.</li>
</ul>
<p>Please share your own favorite links from this week. We want to know what's been on your radar!</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/on-our-radar-draft-3#commentsBert and ErniebloggingNancy WakeSesame StreetTEDBitch HQFri, 12 Aug 2011 20:25:05 +0000Ann-Derrick Gaillot11946 at http://bitchmagazine.orgAdventures in Feministory: What Women Can Be on Sesame Streethttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/adventures-in-feministory-what-women-can-be-on-sesame-street
<p> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3547/3504442167_42b4e8f985.jpg" height="177" width="449" /></p>
<p>As <i>Sesame Street</i> turns 40, the media is brimming with <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/sesame_street/index.html">think pieces</a> about the groundbreaking show. From its educational impact to its unprecedented portrayal of racially diverse urban life, the show changed the face of not just children's TV, but the medium of television in general. </p>
<p>There's a lot to talk about when we talk about <i>Sesame Street</i>, and people are doing just that. <i>Time</i> magazine postulated that Barack Obama is the first <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1902845,00.html">&quot;<i>Sesame Street</i> president,&quot;</a> writing that &quot;The Obama presidency is a wholly American fusion of optimism, enterprise and earnestness — rather like the far-fetched proposal of 40 years ago to create a TV show that would prove that educational television need not be an oxymoron.&quot; (The show's creator, Joan Ganz Cooney, is happy to support this theory, saying &quot;I like to think that we had something to do with Obama's election). <i>Newsweek</i> <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/199141">pondered</a> <i>Sesame Street</i>'s global reach, reporting that among the world's Sesame-friendly regions are Kosovo and the Palestinian territories; the South African <i>SS</i> features an HIV-positive character. And <i>New York</i> magazine <a href="http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/topic/61744/">revealed</a> that 75-year-old Carroll Spinney, who has played Big Bird for all 40 seasons, spends his days with one arm raised above his head, manipulating the puppet's eyes and beak and not even once grumbling that he could be playing shuffleboard on a Carnival cruise ship.</p>
<p>And then there are the videos -- like &quot;Women Can Be,&quot; a hilarious feminist ode to the world of beyond-nurses-and-ballerinas careers that I was reminded of this morning, courtesy of my friend Tina. (Rita Moreno, voicing the surgeon, is especially awesome.) </p>
<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rpjmeyI2pfI&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rpjmeyI2pfI&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><p>
<br />But at the risk of getting all Oscar the Grouch about the feel-good reminiscing, the thing that strikes me in watching this video on the eve of the show's birthday is that, well, it probably wouldn't be produced today. For all <i>Sesame Street</i>'s forward-thinking construction of a racially-mixed, intergenerational, monster-friendly city neighborhood, the show has repeatedly failed to foreground its females. (That sentence was brought to you by the letter F, by the way.) It's astonishing to think that <i>Sesame Street</i> didn't have a lead female Muppet until its 37th season, but the debut of Abby Cadabby in 2006 was a milestone for the show, finally offering a female character with as much personality (and, it must be said, as many marketing opportunities) as Cookie Monster, Big Bird, and Elmo. </p>
<p>But Abby Cadabby isn't a surgeon, or a lumberjack, or a chef, or any of the other possibilities celebrated in &quot;Women Can Be.&quot; She's a fairy. And fairies are great, but as a 2006 <i>New York Times</i> article <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/arts/television/06domi.html?pagewanted=1&amp;_r=1">pointed out</a>, entrenched sexism—yes, even on Sesame Street—makes female characters far trickier to make relatable and acceptable to kids and their parents. (Elmo, the article reasons, would read as flaky if he were a she; Cookie Monster would be even more problematic—&quot;she'd be accused of being anorexic or bulimic,&quot; said <i>SS</i> executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente.) </p>
<p>And that's the paradox of <i>Sesame Street</i>'s feministory. Girls growing up today may well take for granted every lyric in &quot;Women Can Be,&quot; and never doubt for a minute that they have the rights, the smarts, and the freedom to grow up and be whatever they want to be. Yet the very cultural product that taught them that—or, more accurately, taught their parents to teach them that—seems increasingly bogged down in stereotypes and market imperatives, concerned more about the size of a female Muppet's nose than about what message she sends. </p>
<p>The show's new season offers up plenty of evidence that <i>Sesame Street</i> is dedicated to staying relevant to its audience. A new science initiative will focus on the environment (with special guests like Michelle Obama, who enlists Elmo to help plant a vegetable garden); the show's timely, adult-friendly references include parodies of <i>Mad Men</i>, <i>True Blood</i> and, as you may <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/11/09/2009-11-09_conservatives_grouchy_over_sesame_streets_fox_news_jibe.html">already have read</a>, Fox news. Hopefully the show will also look to its past in the new season and beyond, and offer up new—and just as charming—ways for girls to realize that Women Can Be...anything. </p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/adventures-in-feministory-what-women-can-be-on-sesame-street#commentsAbby CadabbybirthdaysMuppetsSesame StreettvyoutubeTVMon, 09 Nov 2009 20:01:58 +0000Andi Zeisler2487 at http://bitchmagazine.org